You are only as good as the company you keep, right? The ranks of Silverbacks are primarily self-selected. As a group I would describe them as super-cool, compassionate, humble, highly intelligent, unquestionably good-looking, fun, courageous, sexy, sensitive, and furry.
Our core group of Silverbacks swells on an almost daily basis by denizens of the blogosphere who sign on to join our elite ranks. Here’s a sampling of the people wanting to join us in The Jungle:
This person likes just about everything we post. Her posts are pretty good, too, especially if you are crazy about blue herons. Sample:
He was looking directly at me.
But he couldn’t have seen me as an interloper suddenly. That didn’t seem possible at all, but he was looking right at me, and approaching, with an intensity in his eyes and a purposefulness in his strides.
And then, then I looked over my right shoulder…
… And saw her there…
… Not eight feet behind me – an adult female Heron, one I know from years on the lake.
She had flown down and landed eight feet from the blue kayak and Blue Heron and me. Usually, the wary Herons will over-fly if they see a kayak, but this one came right up to us. Extraordinary.
I looked directly at her, clicked off a couple of totally unfocused frames in eagerness to not miss the moment. I didn’t look in the viewfinder, just pointed the camera in the right direction and hit the shutter.
And she looked back calmy and said “Arh…” using the Heron “greeting” call.
Maybe she was greeting the other Heron, maybe she was greeting me, maybe both of us?
“Arh…” again.
Since the other Heron was in a display posture by this time, I’d like to think she was greeting me.
I backed my kayak up farther away, towards the other shore to give them more space.
The yearling Heron strutted the length of the half-submerged log and branches, plumes puffed and gorgeous.
The female watched, unmoving, unthreatened.
The yearling climbed off the branch, into the water, and waded closer to her. His plumes returned to normal configuration, but he waded with his back arched, neck and head angled upwards in display.
And suddenly, a flurry of silken plumes as he lept into the air towards her, and she took flight towards the deep end of the cove.
He wheeled mid-air and followed suit. She rose and arced North, over the tallest pines and then curved East over the far end of the cove.
He sped after her, just above water-level, deep into the cove. When last I saw him, he was climbing swifty up into the canopy after her.
I think it was an amorous display, and not a territorial display at all – a courtship chase flight. The season was wrong for that, of course, but a couple of recent years, it had been very warm into October and some birds were showing evidence of breeding plumes growing longer. But then again, maybe it was only a territorial display.
Whichever it was, it was extraordinary to see it from so close a vantage point.
And once again, I am smitten by the Great Blue Herons.
https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com/
Did you know that the world’s oldest musical instrument is a flute made from vulture bones? Don’t feel bad … I didn’t either. I learned this from flymozic.com’s site:
Do you know about the world’s oldest flute is a 35,000-year-old vulture-bone musical instrument? Many sources claim that the flute was actually from vulture bone. So, as shown in research released Nature, the relic shows that music was one of our forefathers’ advantages to their relatives, the now-extinct Paleolithic.
A Rare Discovery – Vulture Bone and The World’s Oldest Flute
The 5-holed flute, which really is entirely intact and fashioned believed to be the distal skeleton of a griffon vulture. Some say that they have discovered it among shards of other burl wood flutes. They also discovered two tiny shards of what are probably likely two basic Aurignacian ivory instruments during the 2008 digs at Hohle Fels. The shards’ varied size suggest that they are not from the same item. Also, another single part of yet another ivory flute was discovered by excavators near Vogel herd, there in Lone Valley.
There in form of the remnants of one almost full bone flute and scattered tiny bits of several ivory flutes. Archaeologists in Germany have discovered fresh information for Paleolithic music.
But this is my favorite recent convert:
“Make me yours, King of Stormwind.”
Anduin kissed her ravishing lips. Feeling her cold and thick skin with his mouth, savoring a woman that had so many times passed through his mind. He immediately reached for her body, touching her skin.
Sylvanas felt the warmth of Anduin’s hands on her breast and opened her eyes. “Slow down, my King.”
… uhu-h-h-h. You get the idea
So, you are in good company when you read the Silverback Digest. When in doubt, just utter the magic words “Make me yours, King of Stormwind.”
The SBG Digest = Where the elite meet , to cogitate and communicate!
Well imagine my surprise at finding the Great Blue Herons gracing your page. Many thanks for the shout out and for your always interesting posts on such a diverse variety of topics. Best, Babsje
Good to hear from you. I enjoy the insight you’ve given me to Great Blue Herons. Keep it up! Silverback Stephen
Thank you for the kind encouragement. The Herons somewhere between a passion and an addiction. Incurable. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Best, Babsje